Eri's Giant Panda

As I walked into my home lugging my office bag in one hand and my laptop in another, my little toddler ran towards me and embraced me, she threw her little hands around my legs and doodled “ I double youuuuuuuuuuu”. I replied, “ I x. y.z you tooooooooooooo”. She flashed me a big smile, showing signs of a good afternoon nap. 'I double you' meant 'I love you'. I was teaching her how to say 'I love you' and the little lady associated 'love you' with the alphabet 'w'. So every time she says 'I w”; I reply “ I x.y.z you too”. Then she pointed out at my bag and said, “Mamma, lappot”. I quipped “ Yes sweet heart, mamma's laptop”.

As her mindless babbles and chitter chatter fills the air, I rest my stiff body on the couch. But my little lady was in no mood to let me laze. She brought her pair of shoes, pointed at the door and said “ Mamma, tata we'll go, getput (get up)”. That was the last thing I wanted to hear after a long day at work. I told her “ Eri, mamma's tired”. She chirped “ fever got???”, and gently placed her tiny palm on my forehead. I said “No Munchkin, I'm just tired”. Being tired is not a good enough excuse to rest on your honchos, so she asked again, “ Tata we'll go”. Not being able to refuse, I threw some fresh set of clothes on her and freshened up. All dressed, she lugged her best pal Teddy along with her out of the door. I said “ Eri, we are not taking Teddy with us”. She threw up a small fit. I sternly told her “ It's either Teddy or you”. She clung on for two minutes. She knew I meant business, she finally let go of her teddy. She kissed her teddy and looked at me and drooled “ Teddy, not there??”. I knew this was one her tricks to send me on a guilt trip. I politely said 'NO'. We headed to the nearest mall. I was really tired, and Eri was fresh as a cucumber. She unleashed her new found knowledge “ Bike, Cooter(Scooter), Aato rikisha, Car, Tee(tree), Kie (Sky), Cow, Goat, Uncle, Aunty, Leaf, birdy, Butterfly, Apple, Papaya”. All I could say was 'yes Sweet Heart', wondering when she would actually say 'Czhecoslovakia'.

We reached the toy floor of the mall. Eri was ecstatic. No, she was not interested in the toys, she just wanted to run around the racks and bring down a couple of things. This was the same mall, where she brought down a whole rack of CD's a couple of months ago. The manager came running; seeing them Eri flashed the most angellic smile ever. I told her that if she broke anything I would make sure I recovered the expenses from her savings. The manager melted and he let us off the hook. My reverie broke when Eri sent me on a wild goose hunt, she was all over the place, trying to balance on her toes and pull down the rocking horse positioned on top of a cradle. My heart skipped a couple of beats. I ran and pulled her behind. She wasn't too happy. She twitched her eyebrows.

Then she ran towards the stack of soft toys, and was pulling down every other teddy, 'Winnie the pooh bear', she screamed. It was Garfield and Tigger's turn next. She rattled off every cartoon characters name she knew. I was just silently praying that she doesn't ask me for anything. Then suddenly out of the blue, something caught her eye. 'Mamma, Giant Panda' she cooed. I couldn't spot the giant panda. She pointed out. I said, ' No you silly, its a Dalmatian dog'. She insisted, this time a little more louder 'Giant Pnada waaaaannnnt'. I saw another couple standing behing me checking out the toy stack. I was not going to give in to the whimps and fancies of a one year old. I didn't want to be called one of those mothers who couldn't handle her children. 'No Eri , its a dalmatian' I quipped. The sales guy, who was standing right behing me assisting two other couples looked at me and said ' M'am, the kid is right, it's not a dalmatian, it is a giant panda'. My face turned a shade of crimson. The one year, seven month old kid could identify the toy right, and her mother was calling it a dalmatian. I could hear the couple behind me giggle. I just wanted to vanish into thine air.

To add to my woes, the sales man pulled down the giant panda and handed it over to Eri. One of their usual tactics to get the toy hooked to the kid. My little lady planted a big kiss on the panda's lip. The Panda cost 750 Rs. I wasn't prepared to shell a couple of hundreds for a medium sized black and white potch, all because, Eri found it cute. I took one look at the panda and its pricing and told Eri, 'Darling, lets buy you a squirrel'. 'Noooooooooo panda' she said. I couldn't give her a tight whack as I was in a public place. Eri was assertive. She did not succumb to the pressure. Her grip around her panda tightened everytime I tried to engage her in a conversation. I made futile attempts to pull the panda out of her embrace. Annoyed, I called up my husband and told him, "Listen Mitch, your daughter wants a teeny weeny Panda that costs 750 bucks..", he didn't wait for me to complete "Buy her the Panda, it's okay" he said. I could feel my blood pressure rising " Sure thing hubby dear. Do remember to replenish my bank account" saying so,I hung up.

I tried to pull the toy out her hand, this time with a little more force. The little tot fought back to save the love of her life, but of no avail. Ms. Cruella was at her cruel best. By the very virtue of being a little more stronger, I won the tug of war. She howled a little but eventually forgot about the toy.

Eri has now forgotten about the Panda. She is back to playing with her old buddies. This is one battle I won, I don't know how many will I lose in future. ;-).